Wanted Dead Or Alive
by TrueBlood Twilight
Summary: Edward and his brothers, discover life after the Civil War, as difficult. As they turn to crime to make a living, not only do they become notoriously wanted but through their infamy, lies their path to destruction when they accept a job out in California


**Title: Wanted Dead or Alive **

**Summary: Edward and his two brothers, discover life after the civil war, is not as easy as it looks. ****With vengeance in their hearts, these boys ride on to make themselves a name. **

**A name that will go down in American history, as one of the most notorious gangs in the country. ****The Cullen Boys. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. Never have, never will.**

**Dedicated to my mother in law, a real Verdugo.**

**Originally written as a o/s for a contest; dark characters, to which I did not read the fine print... No murder. What? So here it is, for no other purpose, other than I didn't want to trash it.**

* * *

**Epilogue: 1882 **

My hand covered his wound, but it was bleeding pretty bad. Jasper had taken a few hits to the leg and the both of us barely made it off the Verdugo property alive. Emmett. Well, Emmett didn't fair so well, and... He was shot four times in the chest, while he was trying to get to his horse.

I knelt down beside Jasper and told him to hang on. I was going to get him to the next town to find a doctor. I kept pushing on his leg wound, but the blood just kept coming. I begged him to stay awake, to not fall asleep, to stay with me.

Off in the distance, the sound of thunder... the horses. They were riding fast and riding towards me. My heart began to race, as I kept my eyes on Jasper.

After a few moments, I heard a group of them settle and hop off their horses. _Bless me father for I have sinned..._

A few of them started yelling and I could hear footsteps behind me. I kept repeating my silent prayers, still looking down at my dying brother.

I felt something hard tap the back at my head and I turned around, only to be staring down the barrel of a Remington .44, the same handgun that I used to favor in the civil war, now aimed inches from my head. Holding it was... the woman I loved and the woman I betrayed. Isabella Verdugo. The last thing I saw; her finger pulling the trigger.

***********

**EPOV**

I grew up in Missouri, the youngest of three brothers. My mother Esme Cullen, a tobacco grower, did fairly well with a good size farm and a handful of slaves. My real father died when I was young and my mother remarried, a substantial wealthy doctor from Nebraska, and bore two more children, Alice and Rosalie.

As I got older, things began to change around us. A war between the States was brewing and most that lay above Missouri and Kentucky favored the Union, while the states that lay below, were in favor of a Confederacy, separate from that of the Union. The Country was divided and Missouri, a border state, was feeling the effects.

Having mostly sympathizers for the North, our county stood out as we had the largest population of slaves within the entire state.

This meant though when the calling came, my brothers and I were asked to join the supporters of the South.

I was only 16 when I joined the Confederate Army, Jasper was 17 and Emmett was the oldest, at 20. My mother had given birth to a still born in between Emmett and Jasper and that was the reasoning why Emmett was substantially older than Jasper and I.

Being given a gun and the power to kill, was new for me. It took me awhile to adjust but in the war, there was no time to grow up. My first battle, I had seen several young soldiers shot before my eyes, and several more wounded, begging for someone to help them.

There were times that I simply forgot what it was I was fighting for and just wanted to make it through the night alive. Sometimes just a cold drink, a warm place to stay, clean clothes, my mother's laugh. Anything to remind me that I was still a human being and not some dirty animal laying low in the trenches; the smell of death gagging your senses.

Being that Emmett was older, he took to watching over Jasper and I, and would constantly teach us how to shoot a gun, or fight one on one, if need be. There was no formal training and Emmett knew this, so I guess you could say, he developed his own style, his own way of surviving. As Emmett would remind us, it was kill or be killed.

We learned to show no mercy and executed anyone who got in our way, armed or unarmed, as we worked our way west into the border towns that lay between Missouri and Kansas.

War was ugly, and the horrific things that I had seen at my age, are things that no man should ever have to witness. Women... Children... Only God could forgive my soul, for the crimes that I had committed.

Back at home, within our county, Union supporters began to take over. My mother and stepfather were asked to relinquish their slaves, or leave Missouri. They did so, under force, but left Missouri, opting to take their younger daughters back to Nebraska, where my stepfather still had family.

This would prove to be wise because after the war, Missouri was left in turmoil and as fighters for the Confederate Army, we too, were not welcomed. Work was hard to come by, as our reputations had preceded us.

This unfortunately angered Emmett, as he seemed to feel that he had given his life to fight for their cause, and now that they have turned their backs per say, they wanted nothing to do with him.

Well in retaliation, Emmett got the brilliant idea to rob from them. If they didn't want to hire him, properly, then he'd earn his income his own way.

What started off as robbing small banks and stagecoaches, quickly turned sour, when one of the banks in Northern Missouri, owned by a Unionist, heavily armed his staff. A shoot out occurred and Emmett and Jasper shot and killed two bankers, and one civilian that accidentally got in the way.

So as we were wanted for Robbery, so be it murder as well. Emmett decided to move us out west, out in the Western territories, where people didn't recognize our faces, but as we tried to avoid any further conflict, conflict didn't want to avoid us and we had a few further troubles that left one lawman and four bankers, dead.

All three of us decided we needed to lay low, hide out for awhile. Headed towards a border Mexican town along Texas, we met an older gentleman by the name of James Young.

James was a wealthy land owner in California and wanted to inquire about our services.

Mercenary.

I hadn't heard the word, but James explained that he wanted to employ us to threaten this particular family, the Verdugos, to signing over their deed.

The Verdugo family was a wealthy Mexican family that owned a pretty big parcel of land, about 34 acres. The land had been theirs, since the time of the Spanish occupation and was granted to Jose Verdugo in 1784. James had explained that the land was worth a lot of money, and he had offered to purchase it from the family, but they had refused. So James was going to take it, by force.

After listening to James talk, Emmett wanted some time to think about it. James was offering a big paycheck, and with the money, we could retire down South, into Mexico. After all, we were wanted in over 6 states for murder and robbery and the Cullen Boys had become notoriously famous. Famous for being wanted.

So off to California we went.

*****

**California **

The weather was beautiful and the hills, something different to the flat lands of the midwest. I just hadn't really seen, such a landscape. The little town that we descended upon, was called San Rafael, named after Rancho San Rafael, owned by the Verdugo family.

We settled in and took odd jobs, till we knew more or less what James wanted from us. For a few months James had left, out to recruit more men, to basically form a gang of sorts, in hopes that we could scare the Verdugos into signing over their deeds, if possible, without killing anyone.

I took a job at a local stable, near the Ranch. There, I helped the owner tend to horses, clean the stalls, and whatever else he asked of me. Sometimes he'd have me run his errands and grab supplies at the local General Store. Whenever I left, I tried leaving at the same time everyday, just to sort of have a routine. This was when I noticed that about the same time that I would show up to the store, so would this beautiful Mexican girl. At first, I thought it was coincidence, her showing up at the same time as I would, and always leaving at the same time as well. Yet, I suspected it wasn't.

On one of my daily visits, I finally decided to wait outside of the store for her and see how far she went to following me. There I waited, no more than a few seconds, when she finally came out. I jumped in front of her, nearly scaring her half to death. "Ah, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I just noticed... I mean, I wanted to introduce myself."

She quickly smiled and laughed, as she understood, I had known she had been following me the last few times. I introduced myself, and she replied, "I'm Isabella Verdugo. It's nice to meet you Edward Cullen."

I took a step back, as I realized who she was. A Verdugo, the family I was contracted to threaten. I tipped my hat and bid her farewell. For some reason, I looked back at her, as I just couldn't get the image of her beautiful face out of my head. She was still there, standing on the steps of the General Store, still facing me. She seemed saddened by my sudden departure. I turned back around and kept walking, reminding myself of who she was.

The next day when I went into town, I noticed that I kept my eye out for her, almost hoping to run into her again, but she never showed up. I actually felt a little bad about not seeing her and more so, about walking away so abruptly from her the previous day. Emmett wanted a little action and Jasper wanted to get drunk, so we headed down to the Salon to grab a couple drinks. It wasn't until late that evening, that Isabella walked in. I noticed Jasper stopped, drink at his lips and gasped at the front door. I turned to look and see what had caught his interest, when I noticed Isabella standing there. She was in a long red dress, with lips to match. Her hair had been done up in curls and... my god, she was gorgeous. I swallowed as I watched her head towards my way.

She took a seat right next to me at the bar and ordered a drink. "So... mind if I sit here," she asked. I threw my shot back and nodded. I could feel my face flush and Jasper's watchful eyes upon me.

"So are you always this quiet Mr. Cullen?" Isabella began to say, and then Jasper stood up immediately upon hearing my name. I asked him to sit down and decided to introduce Isabella to him. In my introduction, I explained how Isabella and I would see each other every day at the General Store and Jasper seemed to ease up after that, and I could tell that he didn't want anyone knowing our last names out in California. Nobody really knew we were wanted, so giving Isabella my real name didn't seem to bother me. Actually, I didn't think to lie to her.

I looked back over at Isabella and kindly leaned into her, asking her why she was here in the bar and not at home. "We had a celebration at the Ranch and I had to get to away. My father is trying to marry me off to some man, to a family friend named Jorge, but I'm not interested. So I left."

I had to give the girl credit. She was persistent. "Can I buy you a drink?" I asked.

"You may, and then the next one after that," she joked. I laughed lightly as I threw down another shot. I looked over at Emmett, who had some whore sitting on his lap. He had his eyes on me, watching me this whole time. I knew he could tell by Isabella's complexion, that she was a Mexican, and by the way he was staring at her, a Verdugo.

I let out a deep sigh, as I thought about how safe could all this actually be. Isabella seemed harmless, yet I knew I wasn't... but something inside me didn't want to send her away. Not this time.

I began to loosen up and tried my best to be polite. I listened to her to talk about her family and she listened to the my tragic tales of the Civil War. She seemed sympathetic to what I had been through and for the first time, I was finally able to... talk.

Towards the end of the night, Isabella was ready to leave and I got up with her, asking if I could escort her home. Jasper looked a little surprised but I scowled at him, because I knew what he was thinking. "She's had too much to drink Jasper. I just want to make sure she gets home safe," I said. I could see Jasper's eyebrows clinch up, as if he wanted to say something but whatever it was, he didn't and finally nodded in agreement.

We left the Saloon and made our way back towards her ranch. I put her atop of my horse and held her with one arm, while steering my old boy, with the other. As I held her in my arms, I could catch the scent of Cinammon on her body. "Were you drinking egg nog or something? You smell sweet." I said, and Isabella started laughing.

"No, no. I was helping my mother make Mole today. It has Cinnamon in it." I didn't know what 'mole' was, but if it smelled like Isabella, I'm sure I'd like it. We started coming to the entrance of her ranch and I slowed my horse down near a tree on the side. I could hear Isabella's breath start to quicken and mine starting becoming irregular too. She looked back at me and asked me to kiss her.

I felt myself hardened, as I leaned in and grabbed the back of her head. I was trying to be steady, since we were still sitting on the horse but getting down, meant pulling myself from her, and that was something I just couldn't do right at that moment.

She swung her one leg up and around me, so that she was now straddling me and deepened her kiss, as she moved in closer. We remained like this, my tongue massaging hers, until I felt as if my body would release, right there in my trousers.

"Let's get down, over here by the tree." I exasperatedly said, as I helped her off the horse. She walked over towards the rear of the trunk and lifted her skirt up, removing her undergarments.

"Edward, now. Please... " She moaned. I ran up to her, unbuckled my trousers, and plunged myself deep between her legs. The sensation of being inside her, her mouth on my neck, the heat from her sex... I gasped for air, as I began prodding her up against the tree, harder and harder as our kisses became more violent.

She lifted her one leg and I grabbed it, lifting it higher on up by my chest. Her other leg, she used to steady herself against the tree, while I continued to thrust, bringing my desire, closer to it's finish.

All I could mumble was her name... "Isabella..."

I finished inside her, with her face upon my chest. Our breathing, heavy, and our bodies still quivering from aftershocks. Between the whiskey and the sex, I almost collapsed right there. My body now limp inside her, I pulled out and rested on the ground. I needed to catch my breath and I hadn't even pulled up my trousers, just bare ass on the dirt. Isabella laughed at the site of me and quickly began pulling up her own garments up. When she was threw, she came down to my level and kissed me. Not hard, but softly on the lips. "Edward, can I see you again?" And to that question, my life changed. For better or for worse, Isabella had a hold on me, and I would soon come to find out the hard way at what cost. And so we continued to see each other, quietly at night.

Isabella and I had been together for about a month when she came up to the stables. "I can't meet you tonight. My father is hosting Jose's family again and I have to be there." I could feel myself redden with jealousy.

"This the same guy that your father wants you to marry?" I said, but Isabella kept her gaze on the floor and finally nodded yes.

"I love you Edward. Not Jose, but my father is persistent and eventually, my father will force him upon me," she said with tears in her eyes. Seeing her cry, with despair, only fueled my intentions. I hugged her and told her that I cared for her and that things would work out. She put her arms around me, standing up on her toes and kissed me.

That evening Jasper and Emmett were getting ready to head over to the Salon. Emmett asked if I was coming and when I said I wasn't, he looked suspicious. "Remember Edward. Once you start something, you better finish it."

"I intend to Emmett," was all I could respond.

I headed over to Rancho San Rafael and then waited. I hadn't really come up with a plan, but I knew what I wanted to do. After a few hours of sitting by the entrance, unsure of how I was going to handle it, I went around the side, up in the hills. From there, I was able to peer down into the courtyard and the side of the house. Soon enough, I saw him.

For the most part, I knew what he looked like because Isabella had pointed him out to me once in a photo her father had taken. The guy was considerably older than Isabella, and had a birthmark on the right side of his face. I waited as close as I could get to the side of the Hacienda, then followed him, into a smaller detached house. It must have been a room used to store their liquor cause there wasn't anything else in there but tequila and wine. Jorge was near the very back, looking at bottles, when I came in behind him and shut the door. About 10 minutes later I left, alone.

It took me awhile to get back home and when I finally did, it was pretty late. I crawled into bed, which I shared with Jasper and I noticed that Emmett was still awake. Eyes open, he just laid there silent.

The next morning James woke me up. He had been in town but was still tending to other things, so he hadn't had time to come up and see us. Of course that is till he heard about the murder over at the Ranch.

"Apparently a close friend of the Verdugo's had been murdered last night in their Jacal de Tequila. Strangled. You know anything about that Edward," James said to me. I shook my head and looked over at Jasper and Emmett, who were just waking up.

"Emmett, you know anything about some guy getting killed over at the Verdugo's," I asked. He just stared at me and for one second, I thought he was going to say something but he didn't. He held tight lip and shook his head.

"Mmm. I thought you boys might have known who it could have been. Oh well, one less that I have to worry about. So... tomorrow morning, I want you over there at the Verdugos early in the morning. Get him to sign that deed over. He'll be too distraught to put up a fight, but if he does, just walk for now. We'll start putting pressure on him."

When James left, I asked for the day off. I needed time to think and decided to head over to the Saloon. I started drinking, trying to figure it all out.

It was about lunch time when I saw Isabella pass by. Her eyes looked swollen and she was escorted by her brother. They were headed towards the general store and I knew I needed to talk to her. I ran outside and called her name. Her brother turned around and Isabella waved him off. He continued on, as she walked back towards me. She began to tear up again.

"I'm sorry Isabella," I said, but she cut me off.

"Did you do it?" She spat, her little hands tightly wound into fists, clenched so hard that I could see the whites around each finger.

"Isabella... please," I begged.

"Do not lie to me Edward! Did you do it?" She asked again. I couldn't do it. As much as I would have wanted to, I couldn't lie to Isabella.

"I did Isabella. I wanted... " and as I said those words, she spun around and left. I couldn't even finish my sentence. I wanted to protect her, not for my sake but for hers.

I sighed and turned around, walking back into the saloon to order a double. What have I done? As I drank, I begged myself to find an answer. If I could convince Isabella to leave, and move somewhere far away, we could be together, we could get married. If only she would forgive me. But what about Jasper and Emmett?

Emmett would never turn, he'd stay an outlaw for as long as he'd live. That I was sure of, but Jasper, Jasper was different. He was torn between going home and starting a family, or being loyal to Emmett, being true to who we were. If I could lean Jasper one way, he'd come with me. Of course, I would have to promise to take him, maybe Missouri, maybe Nebraska where our mother lived. Then Isabella and I could head up to New York, get settled out there and start our own family.

If only Isabella... I waited till nightfall and headed over to our usual meeting place, the tree by her Ranch. There I sat, almost all night, till I realized that Isabella wasn't coming to see me. I started to get up and ride away when a rock hit the lower half of my back and then another. I turned around and yelled, but there stood Isabella. "Why Edward? Why?" She cried.

I turned my horse around and rode up to her. Hopping off, I walked straight up to her and grabbed her head, kissing her hard, as if every worry, every sin, all of it, could be washed away in that kiss. She resisted at first, hitting my chest, while I held her tight. Finally her body softened and she returned the kiss back. There we were, completely interlocked into each others arms, and I knew, that this was the woman I loved.

"I love you Isabella and I would do anything for you. Anything!" I whispered.

"Edward, I love you too... But," she started to say and this time I cut her off.

"Isabella. What did I say? I'll take care of everything. Just say yes to being my wife." I said, as she nodded in confusion.

"How Edward?"

"Say yes, Isabella and just trust me!"

"Yes, Edward. Yes!"

"Then come with me, tonight. I can't tell you what's going to happen but... this place isn't safe."

"Edward, my mother." she pleaded, "I have to tell her goodbye."

I didn't like the idea of her going back home, not when I had her safe in my arms but I still needed to talk to Jasper, so I let her go. I told her I was coming to get her in couple of hours and then I left.

When I got back home, the boys were all packed up. "What's going on?" I asked, but they didn't look at me. James was outside and a few others guys I hadn't seen before. I turned towards Emmett and pleaded, "Emmett tell me? You're going over there now, aren't you?"

Emmett walked over to me and gave me a hug. "Edward, I love you brother, but we gotta do what we promised. James wanted to move the meeting up to tonight. I guess he'd already talked to Joseph Verdugo and they're expecting us."

Expecting us? Ambush was what I thought but I didn't say anything. "Edward. You can go, I won't expect you to ride with us anymore. You have my blessing," Emmett said and for the first time I saw Emmett's eyes begin to tear, "You make me proud son, you hear me? Go do good things, kid. Take Isabella away from here," Emmett said, trying hard to hold back his emotion.

Then he turned around and left. It all felt like a sick dream, things were out of control. I quickly gathered my things and when I finally made out to the Ranch, Isabella was screaming. I jumped off my horse so fast, nerves on end and ran in through the gates. There, gun shots broke out and before my eyes, Isabella's father shot Emmett, who had his back to him and was running towards his horse, four times through his chest. I panicked, as I saw Jasper catch glimpse of me. He'd been on horse and came riding towards me, yelling for me to leave. Then I saw him get hit in the leg a few times and blood went everywhere. Isabella's father went to fire again, this time at Jasper's head. Jasper had slowed down, looking to pull me up onto his horse and I only had moments to think. I pulled out my gun and fired off a few rounds... Isabella's father fell to the ground. James's other men were scattered all of the property, some riding off, and few in a shoot out with Isabella's brothers. I hopped atop Jasper's horse but not without Jasper taking another hit before we made off the property.

Jasper and I rode out as far away from the ranch as possible but Jasper's wounds were bleeding pretty bad and I had to switch with him and lay him across the horse, because he didn't have the strength to sit up. I rode all night till daylight but the heat was getting to me, getting to Jasper. I had to pull over, get him out of the sun and into the shade. Then I found a tree.

******

**Prologue**

Isabella Maria Verdugo gave birth to a baby boy, eight months after the death of her father. She named him Eduardo Joseph Verdugo. With her brother now in charge, she was disowned by her family and fled down south to San Diego, where relatives took pity on her and allowed her a safe place to live and raise her son.

Isabella never married, but kept her self busy by become politically active, joining various liberal groups that helped led the way towards women's rights. She was one of the first women to cast her ballad in San Diego.

At the time of her death, she confessed to her son, the actual events that led up to her father's death and to Edward's, to which she never spoke of, until then. Asking for her son's forgiveness, he gave it to her and reminded her, that she would finally be able to meet Edward, by the tree near her old home. She smiled, as her son spoke those words and then passed away quietly, at the age of 70.

After her death, her son published his first book, Wanted Dead or Alive-The Story about the Cullen Brothers.

* * *

A/N: Edward's life is based solely off the real Jesse James.


End file.
